Beyond Borders: Europeans Stash Money Elsewhere

By

Deborah Ball,

Sabrina Cohen and

Stelios Bouras

December 19, 2011

Southern European investors, fearful of the health of their banks and the future of the euro, are increasingly stashing their wealth in currencies, real estate and investment products outside the euro zone, say bankers and government officials.

In a troubling sign for European banks, investors in Greece, Portugal and Italy are asking bankers and lawyers for ways to protect their money in the case of a failure of euro-zone banks or a breakup of the euro itself. Some are converting deposits into currencies such as the Swiss...